


After the Kegster

by JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Jack's a good boyfriend, M/M, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22181491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle/pseuds/JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle
Summary: Jack and Bitty FaceTime after the Kegster
Relationships: Eric "Bitty" Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Comments: 8
Kudos: 227





	After the Kegster

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the events of [OMG Check Please 04.18](http://checkpleasecomic.com/comic/4-18-01). Contains spoilers for the episode, so read it first if you haven't yet!

“Ugh, Jack, I don’t know how you did it!”

Bitty propped his phone on his desk so he could still see Jack’s face as he stripped down to his boxers and tugged a clean T-shirt over his head.

“Did what, bud?” Jack said. “Because I have to say, I never did a keg-stand after a game on a school night.”

“Hush, you,” Bitty said. “You never did keg-stands ever. And yes, that maybe shows how you’ve always been smarter’n me --”

“Not about being smarter,” Jack said. “My days of partying hard were over before I got to Samwell.”

“And Lord, I think I’m ready for mine to be over. Unless we win.”

Bitty picked up the phone to continue the conversation in the bathroom.

“But that’s not what I was talking about. I mean all the pressure. Every game could be my last, Jack. Every time I skate onto the ice might be the last time I play competitively, instead of just late-night rat hockey or beer league or something.”

He put the phone down next to the sink to wash his face.

“That really wasn’t the case for me, either,” Jack said. “By the time my senior season was ending, there were enough teams interested in me that I knew I could play somewhere, win or lose. Did you ever think about trying to go pro?”

Bitty rinsed his face and looked up. No, it didn’t look like Jack was chirping him.

“No?” Bitty said. “I mean, you’ve seen me, right?”

Jack shrugged. “I never thought it was something you really wanted,” he said. “If you did, maybe you could have done it. You’re faster than anyone I play with now. But it probably would have taken more attention on hockey and less on … other things.”

“Like my NHL-player boyfriend?” Bitty said.

“I was thinking baking, but …”

Bitty squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush.

“It’s not just me, though,” Bitty said. “Lord knows, if you told 16-year-old me that I’d be on a team aiming for the Frozen Four, I’d have laughed at your good joke.”

“Not just on a team, captaining it,” Jack said.

“But I want to do this for this team,” Bitty said, waving his toothbrush in a wide circle to indicate that he was including everyone. “I want to go out on top because I don;t want to let any of them down. They deserve it, Jack. They’ve worked so hard, and not just on the ice. Did I tell you Dex and Nursey are actually getting along? And they’ve been so good with the waffles this year, which is good, because I’ve had my hands full with the tadpoles, but they’ve been great, really, and I don’t want it to end for them, not without a win, and there’s only one way to do that. And this is my last chance to help them do it.”

He paused, and Jack interjected, “I know, bud. I get that.”

Suddenly, the image of Jack sitting alone on a pallet in a loading dock in a strange stadium, still wearing his pads as he wept, materialized in Bitty’s brain.

He thrust the toothbrush into his mouth to avoid sticking his foot in any further.

“It’s fine,” Jack said. “I mean, we did win the Stanley Cup last year, so that helped. But you’re right, getting so far and losing … it hurts. There’s nothing you can do to change that. If it happens, I can tell you that after a while, you start to remember all the success you had to get there more than the end. And no matter what, you’ll always appreciate this team.”

He was quiet until Bitty spit out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth.

“You shouldn’t worry so much about losing,” he finally said. “Focus on winning. You guys are good enough to win, so think about that. You want me to come to the game if I can?”

“That’s another thing!” Bitty said. “They have the east regional right there in Providence at the Dunk. But is that where we’re going? No, we have to go to the northeast regional in New Hampshire. Who wants to go to New Hampshire in March?”

“I will if you want me to,” Jack said. “Unless we’re out of town. Let me know as soon you get the schedule. Maybe Tater and some of the others will want to come.”

“Oh, boy,” Bitty said, carrying his phone -- and Jack -- back to his room. “I think Ransom and Holster are going to come up from Boston. I’m sure y’all’ll have fun.”

“I’m sure we will,” Jack said. “But I just want to see you.”

“You’re sweet,” Bitty said, climbing into bed. “Speaking of sweet -- Whiskey actually talked to me tonight! I think he was thanking me for not outing him, what with all the scouts coming to see him, and maybe I should be insulted that he thinks he has to thank me for that, but still. And when he left, of all things there was a Ferrari out front. Wonder what that was about?”

“Couldn’t tell you, bud,” Jack said. “Get some sleep.”

“Yes, cap’n,” Bitty said. “Love you, sweetpea.”

“Love you too.”


End file.
